Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves
INTRODUCTION: To explore human-canid relationships, we tested similarly socialized and raised dogs (Canis familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus) and their trainers in a wildlife park. The aims of our study were twofold: first, we aimed to test which factors influenced the relationships that the traine...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:9846132 2023-05-15T15:51:08+02:00 Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves Burkhard, Megane E. Range, Friederike Ward, Samantha J. Robinson, Lauren M. 2023-01-04 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9846132/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044940 en eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9846132/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044940 Copyright © 2023 Burkhard, Range, Ward and Robinson. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. CC-BY Front Psychol Psychology Text 2023 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044940 2023-01-22T02:06:35Z INTRODUCTION: To explore human-canid relationships, we tested similarly socialized and raised dogs (Canis familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus) and their trainers in a wildlife park. The aims of our study were twofold: first, we aimed to test which factors influenced the relationships that the trainers formed with the dogs or wolves and second, we investigated if the animals reacted to the trainers in accordance with the trainers’ perceptions of their relationship. METHODS: To achieve these goals, we assessed the relationships using a human-animal bonds survey, which the trainers used to rate the bonds between themselves and their peers with the canids, and by observing dyadic trainer-canid social interactions. RESULTS: Our preliminary results given the small sample size and the set-up of the research center, demonstrate that our survey was a valid way to measure these bonds since trainers seem to perceive and agree on the strength of their bonds with the animals and that of their fellow trainers. Moreover, the strength of the bond as perceived by the trainers was mainly predicted by whether or not the trainer was a hand-raiser of the specific animal, but not by whether or not the animal was a wolf or a dog. In the interaction test, we found that male animals and animals the trainers felt more bonded to, spent more time in proximity of and in contact with the trainers; there was no difference based on species. DISCUSSION: These results support the hypothesis that wolves, similarly to dogs, can form close relationships with familiar humans when highly socialized (Canine Cooperation Hypothesis). Moreover, as in other studies, dogs showed more submissive behaviors than wolves and did so more with experienced than less experienced trainers. Our study suggests that humans and canines form differentiated bonds with each other that, if close, are independent of whether the animal is a wolf or dog. Text Canis lupus PubMed Central (PMC) Frontiers in Psychology 13 |
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Psychology Burkhard, Megane E. Range, Friederike Ward, Samantha J. Robinson, Lauren M. Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves |
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Psychology |
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INTRODUCTION: To explore human-canid relationships, we tested similarly socialized and raised dogs (Canis familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus) and their trainers in a wildlife park. The aims of our study were twofold: first, we aimed to test which factors influenced the relationships that the trainers formed with the dogs or wolves and second, we investigated if the animals reacted to the trainers in accordance with the trainers’ perceptions of their relationship. METHODS: To achieve these goals, we assessed the relationships using a human-animal bonds survey, which the trainers used to rate the bonds between themselves and their peers with the canids, and by observing dyadic trainer-canid social interactions. RESULTS: Our preliminary results given the small sample size and the set-up of the research center, demonstrate that our survey was a valid way to measure these bonds since trainers seem to perceive and agree on the strength of their bonds with the animals and that of their fellow trainers. Moreover, the strength of the bond as perceived by the trainers was mainly predicted by whether or not the trainer was a hand-raiser of the specific animal, but not by whether or not the animal was a wolf or a dog. In the interaction test, we found that male animals and animals the trainers felt more bonded to, spent more time in proximity of and in contact with the trainers; there was no difference based on species. DISCUSSION: These results support the hypothesis that wolves, similarly to dogs, can form close relationships with familiar humans when highly socialized (Canine Cooperation Hypothesis). Moreover, as in other studies, dogs showed more submissive behaviors than wolves and did so more with experienced than less experienced trainers. Our study suggests that humans and canines form differentiated bonds with each other that, if close, are independent of whether the animal is a wolf or dog. |
format |
Text |
author |
Burkhard, Megane E. Range, Friederike Ward, Samantha J. Robinson, Lauren M. |
author_facet |
Burkhard, Megane E. Range, Friederike Ward, Samantha J. Robinson, Lauren M. |
author_sort |
Burkhard, Megane E. |
title |
Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves |
title_short |
Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves |
title_full |
Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves |
title_fullStr |
Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves |
title_sort |
bonded by nature: humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9846132/ https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044940 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Front Psychol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9846132/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044940 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2023 Burkhard, Range, Ward and Robinson. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044940 |
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Frontiers in Psychology |
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13 |
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